Archive for the ‘ Behind the Scenes ’ Category

Congratulations to Andrew Arnold, the new Associate Art Director managing First Second graphic novel design. Andrew will now be responsible for art direction and design for graphic novel titles both at First Second and those graphic novels published by First Second’s sister companies FSG BYR and Roaring Brook. Andrew started working at our parent company, Read the Rest…

First Second is delighted to welcome our new Editorial Assistant, Kiara Valdez! Kiara is a graduate of Williams College, and she’s interned at Crown, Penguin Random House, and Kodansha. Kiara speaks Japanese, enjoys a broad range of comics and is already bringing her strengths to First Second. What was the first comic you remember reading? Read the Rest…

Dedication is important for anyone creating comics! It takes a lot of hard work and perseverance to succeed in any creative pursuit, and comics is no exception. (Check out the :01 blog for our year of monthly spotlights!)

(some books on our office bookshelf currently) As a publisher, we’re here to tell you that publishers are big fans of books. Everyone who works in publishing loves books — and loves reading. To aspiring authors, there are a lot of times when ‘publishing’ can seem like some sort of crazy black-box monolith with no Read the Rest…

(business cards; from my office wall) One of the reasons that publicists and marketing people exist is to be an intermediary between authors and the outside world. (Unrelatedly, this is also why people have FAQ sections on their websites.) When media that wants interviews or bookstores that want events and they need to get in Read the Rest…

(Galleys of Faith Erin Hicks’ upcoming graphic novel The Nameless City — which is going to be awesome, you guys!) For most authors, getting a book published can be a struggle. It’s a struggle to write or draw the book, it’s a battle to edit it, it’s a fight to find the right publisher, and Read the Rest…

(art from Box Brown’s wonderful nonfiction graphic novel Andre the Giant. This is an interview, but it’s not an informational one) There are times when you want a job and you know who you want it with. But: they’re very clear in explaining how their hiring works, and they don’t have any openings that would Read the Rest…

(the top half of last Thursday’s free PW Daily e-newsletter) Go to conventions! — that’s something that we frequently hear as advice for aspiring creators. And it’s good advice — conventions are a great place to show off your work, meet people in the industry, and see what kind of authors are getting published and Read the Rest…

(Current :01 office bookshelf! It’s got some books that we’ve published.) Most of the time when we talk about books on this blog, we’re specifically talking about books where the pitching process goes like this: Author: I have an idea! It is this idea which I am now explaining to you in moderate depth, and Read the Rest…

(the candy currently in my office which is not chocolate and which I purchased for myself, I swear) Sometimes we get asked the question — are there little things that authors can do that will help get a publisher’s attention for their pitch — like send them some chocolate in the envelope? Now, it’s well Read the Rest…

FIRST SECOND is an imprint of Roaring Brook Press, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, which owns some of America's most prestigious publishers, known for great integrity and literary quality. These include Henry Holt, FSG, St Martin's Press, Tor and Picador, all of which have garnered the most coveted prizes in publishing.